Comic Pages -- BatJanitor.

My second comic page (yet the last one I finished) is about player ego. In single player games (and in some multiplayer/MMO style games), players are regularly treated in a very special, ego-stroking way. They are told that they are the savior of the world, or the chosen one, or, at the very least, they end up being these people regardless of what they are told. Single player games generally center around the player -- an experience that doesn't carry over to a game like SS13. Within SS13, players are put into a hierarchy, and players in jobs of lower authority are expected to obey or report back to their superiors. Playing the savior of the earth or a character above the rules will generally lead to an arrest in-character, or a ban out of character. This system is often very much at odds with players new to the game, who still maintain a sense of ego regardless of the job they play.

SS13 jobs, with descriptions for each hyperlinked and chain of command roughly outlined.

In order to get across this idea of a player with a lone warrior/hero mindset in an inappropriate environment, I focused on the position of Janitor. Janitors on the station are much like real-world janitors in that their only responsibilities are keeping the floors clean of muck, blood, and trash. They have very little access to areas of the station, and no authority over any other player/job. Janitors have access to the maintenance closet, and begin next to their mop, bucket, and a couple of more useful tools. The first of these is the 'janicart', which the janitor can use as transport from place to place. It is a unique item, and one of the best for transport in the station. Its original purpose was to make the position of janitor appeal more to joining players -- however, it appears to contribute a fair bit to the sense of ego I mentioned.

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=Janicart

The janitor cart was actually removed from the game, recently, due to it being fairly game breaking (indestructable, faster than people). The idea of a Janitor cruising around in his own, incredibly durable, state of the art supercar made me think of the Batmobile, and I began toying with the idea of parodying Batman (specifically the animated series opening). There is also a running joke within the tgstation wiki community that the Janitor may well be the 'Owl' -- the superhero that emerges only when the station's situation is most dire and the hour most desperate.

http://wiki.nanotrasen.com/index.php?title=The_Owl

Janitors also have access to 'foam grenades', which explode into a sea of bubbles and water when thrown onto a tile. This is good for quickly cleaning large messes in an area, such as the medbay floor. This particular area is often very messy due to people dragging bodies back and forth in an emergency without the proper use of a stretcher.

The janitor's appearance was based upon his in-game pixel art, and the picture of Roger Wilco (Space Quest) from the tgstation wiki.

Comic panel -- coloured, which I eventually decided against.

I also decided to leave the comic without character dialogue, leaving the only text as a 'voice over' from the janitor himself, in a style borrowed from old superhero comics. The comic, in finished form, depicts the janitor noticing a 'batsignal', gearing up, heading to his janitor cart, arriving at the scene, launching a cleaner grenade, and walking away with the knowledge that he, in his dedication and skill, is the savior of the station.

Full size comic link.